Biologics and Biosimilars

Biologics and Biosimilars: Biologics and Biosimilars During the course of your treatment, your doctor may prescribe you a biologic or a biosimilar, but what are biologics and biosimilars anyway?   What are biologics? A biologic medicine is a large molecule typically made from living cells and used in the treatment, diagnosis or prevention of disease. Biologic medicines include therapeutic proteins, DNA vaccines, monoclonal antibodies and fusion proteins. Biologic medicines are often 200 to 1,000 times the size of widely used small molecule drugs and are far more complex structurally. They are also highly sensitive, making them more difficult to characterize and produce. What are biosimilars? Alternatively to biologics, your doctor may choose to prescribe biosimilars. Unlike generic medicines where the active ingredients are identical, biosimilars – by definition – are not likely to be identical to the originator biologic. They are similar, but not the same. Biologics made by different manufacturers differ from the original product and from each other. Why are biosimilars important? With expanding demand for good-quality healthcare, comes the challenge of controlling healthcare costs. The safe and regulated introduction of biosimilars into the market has been forecasted to increase and improve access to much needed biologic medicines and reduce costs.   For more information on biologics and biosimilars, head over to the Healthy Biologics site. Looking for even more? check out these articles: International Business Times: What are Biosimilars? LA Times: FDA approves knockoff of Amgen’s Neupogen chemo recovery drug